01-20-2020, 05:54 PM
To be fair, Mahomes doesn't step up in the pocket. He sees edge pressure and leaves the pocket...because he can. That doesn't mean he should. He also left a lot of easy checkdowns to wide open dudes in the left flat so he could extend the play and look for chunks, which mostly weren't there so he ran a ton.
I live in Kansas City and there's some fear here that he keeps running like that and he'll take a season-ending hit. Patrick and Andy both have acknowledged he needs to be a smidge more patient in the pocket.
But I didn't see much of Jimmy G extending plays with his feet. He bootlegs ala Cousins but isn't exactly in the same League as the guys who extend plays with their legs. Tannehill's scrambling didn't exactly help Tennessee out either.
The 'realization' that I think many here are missing is that Parity is Back and there are many ways to win it all. New England is dead. Other traditional powers like New Orleans and Pittsburgh are fading.
There are no Elite Teams. At least not this year. A busted former 1st Round QB just took a run-first team to the Championship Game after knocking off a talentless Pats team and upsetting the runningest QB ever, both on the road. With a killer blend of an unstoppable runner and really smart timing of Play Action Passing (Cousins' forte).
But guess what? Tennessee can re-sign both Tannehill and Henry and I bet they don't even get as far next season. They are too heavily oriented towards running and Play Action and when the rush was taken away by a combination of the Chiefs starting to slow it down and finally falling behind on the Leaderboard they couldn't adjust.
Meanwhile, Kansas City struggled early against the plan Vrabel had for them until they adjusted and started running more.
In the better Conference it was a matchup of two teams with stacked Line play on both sides of the ball. San Francisco had BOTH the better D-Line and the better O-Line. And the better playcallers. Checkmate.
There were two major lessons from yesterday. 1. In the AFC the team that was able the adjust in-game won. And it wasn't hard for them to do because they are multi-dimensional. Tennessee couldn't adjust without the threat of Play Action. 2. You need really good Line Play. All 4 teams have inarguably better O-Lines than Minnesota has. The NFC teams had better D-Lines. The Chiefs have Chris Jones, maybe the second best DT in the NFL. The Titans were a little more blitz dependent.
For the Vikings to get better they need to beef up the Offensive Line and add a legit 3T to the Defense. But even that won't be enough. The team simply must develop a Passing Attack that isn't so dependent on Play Action and Boot/Waggle plays. Stefanski seemed unwilling to do this for some reason. Exhibit A is waiting until they were about to leave the Lockerroom after halftime before deciding to go Hurry Up/Shotgun down 20 to Denver.
There's plenty of evidence over two seasons that tempo and Shotgun can help Kirk spread the ball around and march the team down the field 1 dink and 1 dunk at a time. And take shots as well. We know the team has the players to accomplish it.
The big question will be why didn't they do it more? Was it Zimmer? Sounds like Stefanski was the one reluctant to go Hurry Up against Denver. So I tend to lean towards him being stubborn about wanting to stick to the run. We saw Shanahan feel so good about Matty Ice and his passing attack that he couldn't get out of his own way and call enough runs to prevent choking a Superbowl away. Coordinators get stubborn and I think Stefanski was no different. Hell, even Andy Reid sometimes forgets he's allowed to call running plays.
For me the key is upgrading LG and 3T to League Average and hopefully getting a better LT. But it has to be paired with an OC that can develop a legitimate Passing Attack that isn't overly reliant on Play Action. And that OC needs to be open to making in-game adjustments when the running game is stalled out.
Sounds like a lot but really isn't. Virtually anyone is an upgrade from Elf and Shamar. If Klint is the pick he should be a little more open minded about taking advice from his father regarding not being too stubborn. And the NFC team in the Superbowl is, in my opinion, about to get exposed at QB. They are very good, but not Elite. Minnesota is good and the road to very good is not that long.
I live in Kansas City and there's some fear here that he keeps running like that and he'll take a season-ending hit. Patrick and Andy both have acknowledged he needs to be a smidge more patient in the pocket.
But I didn't see much of Jimmy G extending plays with his feet. He bootlegs ala Cousins but isn't exactly in the same League as the guys who extend plays with their legs. Tannehill's scrambling didn't exactly help Tennessee out either.
The 'realization' that I think many here are missing is that Parity is Back and there are many ways to win it all. New England is dead. Other traditional powers like New Orleans and Pittsburgh are fading.
There are no Elite Teams. At least not this year. A busted former 1st Round QB just took a run-first team to the Championship Game after knocking off a talentless Pats team and upsetting the runningest QB ever, both on the road. With a killer blend of an unstoppable runner and really smart timing of Play Action Passing (Cousins' forte).
But guess what? Tennessee can re-sign both Tannehill and Henry and I bet they don't even get as far next season. They are too heavily oriented towards running and Play Action and when the rush was taken away by a combination of the Chiefs starting to slow it down and finally falling behind on the Leaderboard they couldn't adjust.
Meanwhile, Kansas City struggled early against the plan Vrabel had for them until they adjusted and started running more.
In the better Conference it was a matchup of two teams with stacked Line play on both sides of the ball. San Francisco had BOTH the better D-Line and the better O-Line. And the better playcallers. Checkmate.
There were two major lessons from yesterday. 1. In the AFC the team that was able the adjust in-game won. And it wasn't hard for them to do because they are multi-dimensional. Tennessee couldn't adjust without the threat of Play Action. 2. You need really good Line Play. All 4 teams have inarguably better O-Lines than Minnesota has. The NFC teams had better D-Lines. The Chiefs have Chris Jones, maybe the second best DT in the NFL. The Titans were a little more blitz dependent.
For the Vikings to get better they need to beef up the Offensive Line and add a legit 3T to the Defense. But even that won't be enough. The team simply must develop a Passing Attack that isn't so dependent on Play Action and Boot/Waggle plays. Stefanski seemed unwilling to do this for some reason. Exhibit A is waiting until they were about to leave the Lockerroom after halftime before deciding to go Hurry Up/Shotgun down 20 to Denver.
There's plenty of evidence over two seasons that tempo and Shotgun can help Kirk spread the ball around and march the team down the field 1 dink and 1 dunk at a time. And take shots as well. We know the team has the players to accomplish it.
The big question will be why didn't they do it more? Was it Zimmer? Sounds like Stefanski was the one reluctant to go Hurry Up against Denver. So I tend to lean towards him being stubborn about wanting to stick to the run. We saw Shanahan feel so good about Matty Ice and his passing attack that he couldn't get out of his own way and call enough runs to prevent choking a Superbowl away. Coordinators get stubborn and I think Stefanski was no different. Hell, even Andy Reid sometimes forgets he's allowed to call running plays.
For me the key is upgrading LG and 3T to League Average and hopefully getting a better LT. But it has to be paired with an OC that can develop a legitimate Passing Attack that isn't overly reliant on Play Action. And that OC needs to be open to making in-game adjustments when the running game is stalled out.
Sounds like a lot but really isn't. Virtually anyone is an upgrade from Elf and Shamar. If Klint is the pick he should be a little more open minded about taking advice from his father regarding not being too stubborn. And the NFC team in the Superbowl is, in my opinion, about to get exposed at QB. They are very good, but not Elite. Minnesota is good and the road to very good is not that long.
